Flipboard-esque magazine-style aggregation apps are all the rage right now. Obviously Flipboard has the space nailed, and Pulse is a nice alternative as well. But one aggregation app seems to have caught the attention of a big name news publication — Zite.

The same company that once had a mailbox full of cease-and-desist notices from beastly publications like the Washington Post and AP, may now be headed toward a big payout. According to Canadian news site Techvibes, Zite is in talks with CNN to sell the company for somewhere between $20 million and $25 million.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else we’ve heard about the deal, and both companies haven’t made a peep. If it goes through, it will certainly be a momentous occasion in the life of Zite. The company has dealt with a couple hiccups over the past few years: most notably the shift from Worio, a new CEO in Mark Johnson, and of course, a massive crackdown from unhappy news sites over Zite’s UI. A $25 million deal with CNN should make those bumps and bruises worth it.

Have you ever wanted to recreate the kitchen scene in Goodfellas from a very low angle with Lego characters? Well, here’s your chance to create your own diminished steadicam shots using a GorillaPod tripod and four wacky little wheels called CineSkates. These wheels allow for slow tracking shots, “worms-eye” views, and smooth rotations. You can also pan across a scene with the wheels.

The wheels fit on the GorilliaPod Focus, a tripod made for DSLRs. The creator has partnered with Joby to offer the GorillaPod tripods at a considerably discount (or you can just get the wheels).

Developed in an MIT MediaLab class, CineSkates is a unique set of wheels that attach to a tripod and enable the user to put their video in motion. They are designed to work specifically with the GorillaPod Focus™ tripod, and a ballhead, like the BallHead X, also from JOBY®.

Obviously you’re limited by the height of the tripod but you could grab some cool “orbiting” footage of interview subjects or sculpture. For $275 you get the full kit including the GorillaPod Focus and the ballhead. $150 just gets you the little skates. They need $20,000 to fund this project, so budding Kubricks had better act quick. The next project will consist of a much larger tripod with real wheels as well as other camera products.

Project Page

YouWeb, the social incubator behind OpenFeint, CrowdStar, Sibblingz and iSwifter, has raised another $2 million in funding from a number of angel investors including Dave Roux (the co-founder and chairman of Silver Lake Partners, Dave Whorton (the founder of Tugboat Ventures), Praful Shah, Brett Wander, Winston Cho and YouWeb founder Peter Relan. The company had previously raised $700,000 in funding.

Relan explains that YouWeb differs from other programs in that it is an extremely early-stage, almost pre-Y Combinator incubator. He says that YouWeb simply chooses individuals based on talent, and entrepreneurs come in with no team, business model or idea. The individual is given $100,000, and develops a business or app in house. YouWeb usually incubates around two entrepreneurs per year.

The company has also brought ex-Walmart, Kosmix, and Amazon executive Michelle Yee Sangster as SVP of business development. Specifically Sangster will be working with YouWeb’s iSwifter and Sibblingz for new business development opportunities.

YouWeb has seen success with a number of its companies in 2011. OpenFeint was acquired by GREE earlier this year for over $100 million and CrowdStar just raised $23 million in new funding. YouWeb and CrowdStar also recently teamed up on a new $10 million fund for mobile social game development.

Sibblingz launched Spaceport, a HTML5 canvas-rendering engine available for iOS and Android and iSwifter’s Flash game-streaming service for mobile devices is set to bring in over $10 million in revenue this year.

As we heard last year, Ask surrendered its search operations to its competitors and refocused on building out its Q&A platform. This seems to have paid off somewhat—the company has seen over 1 million downloads of its iPhone app. Mobile, specifically, has been a growth area for the Q&A platform, with a 100 percent increase in visits to Ask.com from smart phones over the last year (mobile is 10 percent of total usage). Today, Ask.com is bringing its Q&A platform to Android devices.

Ask says that the Android app is now available in the Android Marketplace and Amazon AppStore for Android. Includes all of the functionality of its iPhone application including voice to text features, the ability to get web results as well as top-voted published answers from other Ask.com users. You can also specifically send a question to a real user, and activate push notifications to alert you to when a new answer has arrived.

One of the Android-specific features is the ability to filter Q&A by topics that match your profile. You can also follow users who provide interesting answers, and personalize your Q&A experience with content from these connections.

Ask says that currently make up about 55 percent of Ask.com smartphone mobile traffic while Android makes up about 40 percent. Android traffic to Ask.com has skyrocketed 60 percent so far this year, so an Android app makes sense.

Friend-Watch is a new Facebook application that stalks your friends list, watching for changes you might not otherwise notice. This includes things like people who change their name, add you as a friend, deactivate their account, restore their account, delete you, block you or unblock you. It also tracks general trends, like friend counts and gender breakdowns. In short, it’s like analytics program for your personal Facebook profile.

The app was created by developer Andrew McGrath, who recently joined social media management company Syncapse (also a maker of Facebook applications) as Director of Platform Operations.

McGrath previously created the now-banned app “Who Isn’t My Friend?” This former app, which notified you when someone “unfriended” you, quickly ended up on Facebook’s blacklist since Facebook frowns on “unfriend-ing” trackers. But this time around, McGrath says he talked to Facebook first, adjusting the application according to its guidelines.

The new app is more analytics-focused, plotting things like the number of friends you have versus the average number of friends for the typical Facebook user, breakdowns of friends by gender and, soon, a map showing where your friends live. This is in addition to the above-mentioned tracked items, like the blocks, deactivations and name changes.

There are a few important gotchas about the application, that we must point out. For starters, the app defaults to automatically posting to your wall when you “unfriend” someone. That may not be something you want to advertise. To change this, you’ll need to head into the app’s Settings section and switch that to “off” by hitting the “Toggle” link. You may want to toggle off the daily summary email.

The app also includes ads that appear as you switch screens as well as banners at the bottom. It’s a bit of overkill, considering that it nags you for donations, too. Still, we’ll give Friend-Watch a pass thanks to the sheer fun we’re having checking out our Facebook stats…and the convenience of passively stalking changes with our friends.

Touchanote is a new Android application that ties together NFC technology with the popular note-taking and organizing software Evernote. Created by the Montreal-based startup Wiseleap, the app took home the $50,000 grand prize at Evernote’s recent developer conference in San Francisco.

At the time of the conference, the results of the developer contest were overshadowed by the much larger news regarding Evernote’s acquisition of image-sharing app Skitch. But Touchanote, despite its niche appeal, is worth a second look.

Through a combination of NFC stickers and this mobile application, both of which are available via Touchanote’s website, you can easily associate a note in Evernote with a particular NFC tag. So, for example, you could place a sticker on your fridge that’s associated with your grocery list in Evernote, enabling you to launch the list on your phone just by tapping or waving your device near the tag.

Or maybe you could stick a tag on your suitcase that’s associated with your packing list. A tag that launches your “to-do” list could be stuck to something on your desk at the office. You could tag boxes you’re planning to store or move to a new house with a list of their contents. You could tag devices with links to their online user manuals or support pages.

These are just a few ideas, of course. You can probably think of more.

The only problem, of course, is that NFC technology is currently limited to a small number of handsets. Most notably, Google’s flagship phone, the Nexus S, offers NFC, as do some variants of the Samsung Galaxy S II, select Nokia devices (like the newer Astound), RIM’s BlackBerry Bold devices (9900/9930) and its newer Curve models (9350/9360/9370), among others.

But for those of you out there who are just starting to experiment with NFC and its potential use cases, this seems like a practical way to take advantage of the functionality that such a technology provides.

Most power airfare searchers know that buying two one-way tickets on separate airlines can sometimes be cheaper than buying a roundtrip ticket on the same airline. But on most travel search portals you have to do a little digging to find these one way fares, and sites like Kayak wouldn’t pair two one-way fares from different airlines. Today, Kayak is integrating these fares, which the company has dubbed ‘Hacker Fares’ into flight search.

So if you are looking weekend roundtrip flight from New York to San Francisco, and the best price is $600 for an economy ticket on Airline A, you’ll also see the price options for two one-way fares on Airline A and Airline B, which may be cheaper. Kayak calls these Hacker Fares because searching and matching separate airline and travel sites for these cheaper one-way fares requires a bit of hacking.

Kayak has even trademarked the term and filed a patent for the technology. CMO Robert Birge says that airlines won’t be upset over this because the company is simply searching what’s already out there via flight data on the web.

While Birge won’t reveal how often a roundtrip fare on the same airline is more expensive than two separate one-way fares on different airlines, he did say that Kayak expects the addition of Hacker Fares to impact a ‘significant percentage of queries’ on a daily basis.

Kayak, which filed its S-1 nearly a year ago, appears to be holding off on its plans go public. As the company reported in its most recent filing, revenue is up but net income is down. Kayak could be waiting for Google to launch its own ITA-powered flight search tools and services that will directly compete with Kayak.

Last year, popular live video platform Ustream launched a mobile app development platform called Ustream Live Mobilizer that offered brands, celebrities, and bands a customizable iPhone application that featured Ustream’s live steaming capabilities. But today, Ustream is shutting down Live Mobilizer and announcing a partnership with Mobile Roadie, which allows anyone develop and create sleek, rich media iPhone and Android apps.

Mobile Roadie will work with Ustream broadcasters to create mobile apps that showcase their Ustream live channels as well as a number of of other complimentary features. For example, Mobile Roadie’s Ustream apps will send push messages automatically when a broadcaster goes live, will allow visitors to “Check in” to a stream and share to Facebook and Twitter, will collect real-time analytics and location data on broadcaster live streams, and will allow users to chat with each other as they view a live stream.

Broadcasters will also be able to monetize the app, and can charge a one time or monthly fee for users to their Ustream content. Mobile Roadie says that existing Ustream clients using Live Mobilizer will have the option to migrate to the new platform.

Outsourcing mobile app development to Mobile Roadie makes a lot of sense for Ustream, who can focus on doing what they do best—live streaming. Mobile Roadie has become a defacto mobile app development platform for a number of high profile brands and celebrities using its platform, including Taylor Swift (see the example of the Ustream integration in this post), Madonna, Live Nation, Levi’s, Twilight, and Vera Wang. In 2009, Mobile Roadie also developed the official iPhone app for LeWeb,, struck a deal with Random House to power iPhone apps for authors, and Sony Music to develop mobile apps for the music label’s network of artists.

Don’t listen to the masses. Buy the TouchPad (if you can find one) and enjoy webOS. It’s an amazing OS killed off by natural selection, like a beautiful peacock with a rare and debilitating reproductive problem. It has the swankiness of iOS, the multitasking of Android all built by the folks that started it all, Palm. The Internet is being overran by Android nerds. Don’t listen to them.

The TouchPad was doomed from the start. Tablets, outside of the iPad, are a niche device that attempt to justify their existence by replicating notebook functions on a slate form factor. They just don’t make sense without a robust app marketplace. A consumer can buy an iPad and never touch the web browser because of the sheer amount of useful and fun apps. That’s not the case with Android, BlackBerry, or webOS devices. These platforms, while fully functional and vibrant as any smartphone OS, did not prep for the transition to a 10-inch, thus the weakest of them will die an early death from poor consumer acceptance.

Unfortunately this early death doesn’t make any of the TouchPad’s competitors stronger. Android won’t benefit for this, but you still can.

The TouchPad is a fine device. The platform is more consumer friendly and operational in a tablet than Android right now and it has the pleasing user experience of webOS. We have never had any issues with webOS. We just couldn’t recommend it over the iPad. John’s official review of the TouchPad states, “WebOS and the Palm TouchPad are nearly perfect, an excellent amalgamation of everything that was ever right about Palm. But is even perfection, in this market, enough? Without a strong app base and some work on performance issues, the TouchPad may be the most beautiful dead-end we have seen yet.” Yep, that properly describes the TouchPad: a beautiful dead-end.

Some of Android’s faithful saw the TouchPad fire sale as an extraordinary opportunity. Here’s a dual-core tablet with an amazing 10-inch screen for only $100. Let’s all buy it and then put Android on it, they said. Great, but you, as curious onlooker not exactly sure how to flash a device or rebuild a kernel are better off with the stock webOS.

There’s currently a $1500 bounty for the first stable Android TouchPad build. The goal right now isn’t even Honeycomb but rather Android 2.x, which further supports my plea to keep the original tablet OS installed. The hacking cause might have gotten a free turn as what appears to be a Qualcomm prototype actually running Android 2.2.1 Froyo was supposedly installed on a TouchPad bought at retail.

I never thought HP would kill the TouchPad this fast. I figured the first generation of TouchPads were just to test the market and then HP, the mammoth PC maker, would out a proper second generation. But HP decided they didn’t want to be a mammoth PC maker anymore and axed their resource-sucking webOS hardware division. This departure then puts the pressure on the BlackBerry PlayBook as the under-performing tablet platform. Sprint already gave the tablet the stink eye and decided not to carry the 4G flavor. At least the Playbook has lasted longer than the TouchPad’s 49 day lifespan.

We’ve always said the TouchPad is a fine device and it’s an amazing deal at $99. Most of those are already gone and currently, the going price on eBay is just north of $300. (the same price as a refurb iPad) If you can find one though, buy it and enjoy webOS. There are a couple hundred apps available and there will likely be more coming from dedicated devs in the coming weeks and months. Think of it as a gadget of old: You buy it, take it home, turn it on and it works the same from day one. That’s the TouchPad now and it’s totally worth of $100. Just remember, for most people, webOS is better than Android on a tablet but besides in this case of porting, it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?

If you’ve paid attention to any news media over the past few years, you know that the housing market has dropped off. From a seller’s perspective, that makes life a lot harder. But for a buyer, it can mean a wider world of options and opportunities. For those want to become owners rather than renters, it’s vitally important to make smart decisions – as the markets have shown.

Many factors contribute to the real estate market’s current sluggishness, and one of them is the fact that lenders are reluctant to give loans to homebuyers. After the housing market crisis, it’s not surprising that they would be more demanding in their lending practices, but for those eager to buy, it means that you need to present a pristine financial profile.

There’s no limit to the amount of real estate browsing you can do – either online or in your ideal neighborhood – but before you get serious about purchasing a home, take these tips into consideration.

* Pay down your debt. Before you even apply for a mortgage, it’s important that you reduce your debt load. The smaller it is, the better for your debt-to-income ratio, which lenders use to determine how much they’ll allow you to borrow. Items like car loans, child support and alimony, credit card bills and student loans are all factors that the lender will consider. Paying down debt can have the added benefit of improving your credit, as well.

* Check up on your credit. Having good credit is another essential element in smart home buying – it can affect how lenders view you, and the terms of your mortgage. The better shape your credit is in, the better your potential to get the mortgage of your dreams. Every year, you’re entitled to a free credit report from one of the three major reporting agencies, like Equifax. Use it as a starting point that will give you an idea of your overall credit picture. Look for areas that can be improved upon and track your progress by checking your credit again after you’ve put in some work to bring it up.

* Make the biggest down payment possible. The era of zero-down is over, and for good reason. A down payment – and a sizeable one – can help ease the strain of a mortgage in coming years. A minimum of 20 percent down is a good idea, and if you can do more than that, so much the better. If you don’t think you can afford a down payment of 20 percent or more on a house you’re considering, it might be time to shop around for a less expensive home that is more budget friendly.

* Be an informed buyer. There is a seemingly endless list of things to know about buying a home, and the faster you want to buy, the faster you’ll need to learn it all. One of the best things you can do is take a first-time homebuyer class offered by a reputable organization – some cities even offer them for free. Be sure you know the ins and outs of items like closing costs, adjustable rate versus fixed rate mortgages, how your credit report affects mortgage rates and the documentation you’ll need to get a mortgage. The more you know, the better equipped you’ll be to make smart decisions that will make you a happy homeowner for years to come. (ARA)Православни икони